From Practice to Research: Training Health Care Providers to Conduct Culturally Relevant Community Focus Groups

Qualitative data from focus groups can provide an "insiders' view" of the culture of those being studied. Such data can help health care providers and program planners understand how people perceive themselves, and therefore guide providers and planners in developing culturally appropriate outcome measures that can strengthen the planning, implementation, and evaluation of future programs. This article discusses the process used to train Latino and African American health care providers to moderate focus groups that will be conducted as one phase of a research study looking at health beliefs and health practices in an urban arthritis health center. After taking part in two lecture and discussion training sessions, members of the training class were asked to participate in a pilot focus group. The ½ to 2 hour focus group included nine individuals who fulfilled the roles of moderator, facilitator, or respondent. Community health center practitioners provided valuable insight into the design and feasibility of the focus groups during their training sessions.